Thank you for giving America a weak and inept image in the world. You and your administration of progressives have tried to hide behind “the movie” no one has seen, as a reason for acts of violence and death of Americans across the Muslim world during the last 9-11 anniversary. Obviously, America is no longer respected as the strong powerful beacon of freedom it once was and the terroristic happenings of the last few years are the byproduct of policies of appeasement and denigration of our standing in the world.

Thank you for allowing our great nation to receive not one, but two credit downgrades — an achievement never reached by any other administration in American history. After four years of bailouts and paybacks to cronies either as stimulus, corporate bailouts or green energy loans, your administration is why the world sees no reason to get behind America any longer.

The Democrats had complete control of Congress your first two years in office, which produced giant regulatory bodies and the massive economic killer “Obamacare.” Instead of trying to create a fertile climate for job creation, your people used formula changes to skew unemployment percentages and found ways to “give” record numbers of people taxpayer assistance.

The real 23 million people who cannot find work “appreciate” your creation of hundreds of regulations that have choked the business sector into submission. You have created dozens of new bureaus to investigate and control our job creators. With your ignoring of “policies and practices” of traditional government, you and your cronies have created a polluted atmosphere of uncertainty in the business community that will not lift until you are gone from office.

I want to applaud your dedication to the erosion of respect for the office of president. You have shown that laws are meant to be ignored or broken if they do not conform to your way of thinking. You have repeatedly taken any measure of perceived power our president should have and trashed it with your “lead from behind” doctrine combined with your appeasement stance on evil and terroristic regimes that threaten a free society.

Distraction to hide the truth is the new normal. If you get caught, you have mass media to help you “explain” or bring in wave after wave of surrogates who pound the false narrative until enough folks believe it or until the next crisis occurs, and everyone is attracted to the new bright shiny object and loses focus on the last incident.

Thank you for introducing us to the true teachings of Saul Alinsky. It is obvious Alinsky’s “ends justifies the means” doctrine is your motto, and you have your White House czars marching to that beat. Progressives for many decades have been pushing America to this point.

I believe that you, as our first black president, were to be the progressive end game where America fundamentally completed the transformation from a freedom-loving republic of self-sustaining driven individuals who loved their country into a class-driven, hand-out society of takers with no drive to succeed, but more a drive to have apologies and reparations heaped upon them so they can be taken care of by government. As a group, progressives have successfully taught that reparations and care should come from the ”guilty” American wealthy 1 percent, which could only have gotten rich from decades of taking from the hapless 99 percent all over the world.

Thank you, progressives, your hard work since the 1960s has given us at least two generations of Americans largely consisting of people who do not believe in traditional marriage, God in schools, patriotism for America, individual rights or the exceptional gift of individual freedom.

I truly appreciate the left’s hard work at grooming so many millions of people into being proud to receive government assistance where previously, for decades, most Americans would be too proud to accept charity or handouts. With all those efforts, the stigma of welfare is almost gone only to be replaced with the entitled feeling of people being owed something without earning it. You have taught many to believe that fairness means no one should be able to use an advantage or talent to get ahead.

In my opinion I have only listed a small portion of the many things Obama has given America to be “thankful” for. He has taught us that blaming others for his lack of experience, skewed outlook and inept policies is how he handles his mistakes. I have also learned if government tries hard enough, it can spend all the money today that will ever be earned by anyone in the future of our country.

I do offer my sincere thanks to Obama for waking up conservatives in our nation and for teaching us who and what progressives really are. For decades, progressives have attempted to achieve what Obama has almost made reality. Each time progressives have brought the economy down to a crawl, conservatives have been voted in and recreated the circumstances needed to bring the economy back.

Thank you, Obama, for helping us realize that progressive “fundamental” change was not what was needed. Instead we need to follow the basic genius of our founders by getting government back down to its correct role in America of fostering confidence in people and providing a safe place to pursue life, liberty and happiness without interference.

Gene Daughtry is chairman of the Republican Party of Pope County. Contact him at rgdottree@yahoo.com.